Fantasy Notes: Adam Lind, Johnny Cueto & Joba Chamberlain

by faketeams on Apr 20, 2008 4:00 PM EDT in Baseball

The Toronto Blue Jays released DH Frank Thomas ahead of his vesting his 2009 option for $10MM. The signing turns out to have been as short-sighted as any fantasy players could have told the Jays last Spring when Thomas was brought aboard to block top prospect Adam Lind. As a matter of fact, the Jays went ahead and double blocked Lind by signing LF Shannon Stewart.

As a result of this organizational behavior, I have a hard time getting excited about Adam Lind. I am not a fan of the Blue Jays front office actions, but even I can read the writing on the wall. People paid to know do not believe Lind is legit.

In the Baseball Notebook Newsletter (sign-up here), there was a question about Johnny Cueto and his 2008 projection prior to yesterday's start, there was this info:

...to further put Cueto's start into perspective, he has looked fantastic but there's also been some good luck in there too. For example, of the balls he's allowed hitters to put in play, setting home runs aside from the equation, just 17% of them have fallen in for hits. To put this in context, the typical pitcher usually allows about 27-28% in this category and it is almost unheard of for a pitcher to have a rate below 22% over a full season, meaning this rate is almost certainly unsustainable. In fact, Chris Young of the Padres was tops in all of baseball last year among pitchers with at least 162 innings with a rate of just 24%. In other words, Cueto should be allowing about 40% more hits and that's if he's already an elite and typical league-leader in preventing hits on balls in play....

Seems Baseball Notebook always has some saltpetre for the priapusic fantasy owner.

Does anyone think Joba Chamberlain can stay in the bullpen if Ian Kennedy continues to emulate Mike Mussina circa 2008? Throw-in Phil Hughes' less-than-impressive season so far, and one can't help but believe Joba will have to be a starting pitcher despite his middle relief dominance - one earned run over 30+ innings in his brief career.

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blah blah blah

what if cuetto's stuff is so good that hitters cant get the good wood on the ball? that could explain why alot of hits arent making past the infield.........na that would make too much sense and put the useless % stat geeks who like to make up new categorys to look smart out of business

by superherodj on Apr 20, 2008 4:10 PM EDT reply actions

Joe Morgan, is that you?

Then why didn't Cueto have this level of dominance in the minors? Or this spring? He does seem bound to regress.

by Xavier. on Apr 20, 2008 4:39 PM EDT up reply actions

priapusic???

wow....never heard of that one before....then again....I went to Pemberton HS

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Apr 20, 2008 5:17 PM EDT reply actions

Excited

Some people get such hard-ons for players. Google "priapus" to see how appropriate that adjectivization was.

by faketeams on Apr 20, 2008 5:42 PM EDT up reply actions

ha

i remember someone had a huge hardon for larry bigbie :)

by superherodj on Apr 20, 2008 8:18 PM EDT up reply actions

I think

it's priapismic, technically.

by Xavier. on Apr 20, 2008 7:37 PM EDT up reply actions

Thanks

I used dictionary.com and didn't see an adjective for it. Satyrical didn't quite do it in my mind.

by faketeams on Apr 20, 2008 7:42 PM EDT up reply actions

when

does the fire Ned or fire Joe Torre blogs start? I may start one.
Jeff Bennett
Chuck James
Jair Jurrgems

3 runs.....not priceless....more like pathetic. LA batters made these 3 look like Koufax, Drysdale and Newcomb....give me a break. LA batters were 1 for 22 with RISP....that can't continue. As it is, they are in last place in the West.
How soon before LA makes a panic trade? Laroche may be the bait. Torre seems to have fallen in love with Dewitt, and Nomar is not a major league 3bman anymore....he looked terrible in yesterday's game gaffing 3 plays including a DP grounder. It will be interesting if Laroche is rushed in his rehab assigmnment should he hit well, so he can start at 3b. Dewitt, from what I read, may be optioned once LA goes to 12 pitchers again, which should be soon.

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Apr 20, 2008 7:29 PM EDT reply actions

Hitting

The Dodgers expected more than an HR from Jones thru three weeks and the young guns haven't given them the pop yet either. Kemp and Loney were thought to give 25+ HRs each, no?

by faketeams on Apr 20, 2008 7:51 PM EDT up reply actions

HRs

Here were my expectations:
Martin-20
Loney-20
Kent-20
Furcal-15+
Laroche-15
Ethier-20
Jones-30
Kemp-25

I think these hitters need to get more aggressive at the plate....for a change of pace. Road trip to Cincy could help some power numbers...and Harang pitched today, so that's one tough RH-er Kemp won't have to sit for.
I think 25 hrs from Loney is a bit much, even after last September's performance.
Jones is beginning to worry me bigtime. And the pitching staff isn't pitching well either...Bills was off the charts for 4 innings yesterday, then blew up in the 5th. Kuroda pitched decent today...still too many baserunners. The bullpen is getting used alot, this the reason for a 12 pitcher...presumably Brazoban who has pitched well in Jacksonville.
Who gets sent down is the big question-Dewitt to AAA, Young waived, or Nomar back on the DL? LA will have some decisions to make when Laroche comes back. MLB.com speculates HE could get sent to AAA, and not Dewitt. Someone's blood pressure may break records if that happens.

raygu

by Ray Guilfoyle on Apr 20, 2008 8:07 PM EDT up reply actions